Yuriko Backes

3 stories

Luxembourg
Aviation Infrastructure
Findel unveils mock-up of its future 'hybrid' control tower, a first step toward digital air-traffic control by 2032
Luxembourg has taken its first visible step toward modernising air-traffic control at Findel. On 22 May 2026, Minister Yuriko Backes and ANA director Andrea Drescher inaugurated a full-scale mock-up of a future "hybrid" control tower, combining a controller's direct view with high-resolution video and detection overlays. It is the first concrete piece of the EUR 1 billion airport masterplan running toward 2032.
By Julia Weber4 days ago
World
Defence spending
Luxembourg charts a cautious path to NATO's 5% goal, one tenth of a point at a time
Luxembourg's Defence Minister Yuriko Backes presented a roadmap on 20 May 2026 raising military spending by 0.1 points of GNI annually to 2.3% (EUR 1,665 million) by 2029, an incremental first step toward NATO's 5%-by-2035 pledge. The national finance council puts the cumulative extra cost at EUR 13.4 billion, with annual spending set to nearly quadruple. Backes rejected an "arms race" framing.
By Julia Weber26 May 2026
Greater Region
Cross-Border Rail
A direct Luxembourg-Saarbrücken-Mannheim train edges from idea to study, but not before the mid-2030s
Luxembourg, the German Länder of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, and France's Grand Est say a joint study has confirmed a direct Luxembourg-Saarbrücken-Mannheim railway is feasible "in principle," while flagging technical, legal and financial hurdles that push a regular service to the mid-2030s at the earliest. With 276,360 cross-border workers crossing daily in 2024, the partners are weighing shorter-term fixes too.
By Tom Reuter22 May 2026

Findel unveils mock-up of its future 'hybrid' control tower, a first step toward digital air-traffic control by 2032

Luxembourg charts a cautious path to NATO's 5% goal, one tenth of a point at a time

A direct Luxembourg-Saarbrücken-Mannheim train edges from idea to study, but not before the mid-2030s